Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are 500-odd fewer apprentices who became qualified tradespeople in 2021 than in 2020, despite the reopening in September. I want to know when the waiting lists will be cleared and the apprentices will be able to complete the training in the allocated four years, like every other student? The people with the skills we need to meet housing and retrofit targets need to be valued and the system that trains them needs to be functioning properly. Instead, the Minister of State's Department, over 2020 and 2021, saved more money due to the waiting lists than was spent in addressing the backlog. The State saved more than €55 million, mostly from apprentice allowances, and only reinvested €37 million. The Minister of State has left almost €1 billion sitting unused in the National Training Fund.

To make matters worse, in a written response to me, the Minister of State actually used the backlog as a justification for his plans to reform the apprenticeship model. These reforms were previously described by the Connect Trade Union as essentially privatisation of the service. Is the Minister of State allowing the system to collapse so that he can justify dismantling the craft apprenticeship model?

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